Unravelling the Mystery of Elche
Most visitors flying into the Levante region of Spain head right to the beaches of the Costa Blanca or may pay a visit to Alicante along the way. Yet this part of the COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA has much more to offer than beaches and sunshine, in particular further inland away from the coast. As we have covered repeatedly on previous editions of Euroquest Sidetracks, there is plenty of unchartered territory left to discover in and around Alicante - and ELCHE, with 250000 inhabitants the area's 3rd largest city after Valencia and Alicante, should certainly rank high on the list of places to see for alternative visitors to Spain. A gem of a medieval and baroque city in sparkling clean and refurbished condition, ELCHE boasts not one but TWO UNESCO World-Heritage sites - its famous "Palmeral" (Grove of Palm Trees) and the "MISTERI D"ELX" (Mystery of Elche) play in August. So this week we'd like to take a closer look at this unique, beautiful and quintessenti...